Aidan is FIVE!!

Last weekend was a big birthday celebration at our house.  Bryan and Aidan share their birthday on May 31st.  So we usually always use Memorial Day weekend to party it up for the boys!  This year Aidan is 5, no that is not a typo my "baby" really is 5, and he wanted a baseball party.  So we had planned a big wiffle ball game in the field across the street.  The weather was not cooperating though.  Poor Aidan continued to check the windows throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday before his party Sunday afternoon.  Although we didn't get the sunny 80 degree day we had been hoping for, the rain did stop and we were able to get out and play the game in the driveway.  Which was good enough for the birthday boy!

Before all the guest arrived Aidan opened his gifts from MaMa and PaPa, who couldn't make it because the Bulldogs were playing in their Super Regional.  And although Aidan was sad they couldn't make it, he was so surprised by their gift and couldn't have been more excited as he put it on for his party.  Here's a few pics of him opening his presents from Mom and Dad...

A $5 bill for the 5 year old...

The smile on his face says it all!!

All decked out after opening his hat from Mommy and Daddy.  Ready to play ball!  Let the party begin!

Aidan was so excited to see all his friends and family.  He must have asked 100 times if it was party time yet?!  But 4 o'clock finally arrived and so did the guests and we had a blast.  

Our adorable neighbors Abigail and Hannah enjoyed the appetizers!

Maddux did too!

Papa and the boys played some bumper cars in the driveway.

Payton enjoyed the food as well!

Aidan busted some puddles on his scooter. And then the much anticipated moment FINALLY came!! 

It was time to PLAY BALL!!

And guess who was first up to bat?!  Yep #5 the FIVE YEAR OLD!! And he sent it deep!

Payton took his turn as well!

Everyone were such good sports and joined Aidan for a wet, but fun game!  It truly made his birthday dreams come true!!

After the game Aidan sat down with his buddy from preschool to have some lunch.  He was so thrilled Grahm could make it to the party.  They are best buds and really enjoy playing together.

Then it was time for cake.  Grammie made an adorable baseball field cake and baseball cake balls!  So cute!  The boys are very lucky to have such a creative Grammie!

Make a wish and blow out those candles!!

And dig in of course!!  The kiddos loved the cake baseballs!  After the cake was gone it was back out to play, and again we had to make adjustments to our original plans, but we used the water slide as just a regular slide and the kids enjoyed every minute of it!!

Thanks to the Zieglars for letting us borrow this super fun toy!! My boys are now dying to have one!!

After some playtime, it was time for presents!  He received some really cool stuff.  Including this fun soccer goal from Nana and Papa.

The kids played and played until they could barely even keep their eyes open.

I love this pic of Maddux taking a timeout with his juice box. 

As the night came to an end, Aidan passed out his treat bags and told all his friends goodbye.  It was such a great day for my little 5 year old man and I truly thank everyone who came and made him feel so special!

As everyone pulled off in their cars, Payton thought he should do the same!  It's to the bath and bed for you little man, not so fast!

Happy Birthday Aidan!!  We love you and are so proud of the little man you are growing up to be!!  

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Easter 2011

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We spent Easter at my Grandparents' farm this year.  The WHOLE Glasco clan was there, minus Dad and Rick who were coaching, so needless to say it was a full house, but it was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast as they always do at the farm!  Maddux absolutely adores tractors, so he and Grandpa Gerald spend a tremendous amount of time riding every piece of farm equipment in the barn, over and over and over.  Aidan really enjoyed playing with his cousins this year.  The kids are all teenagers now, but are so good to let Aidan tag along and pretend he's as big as they are.  The rest of us caught a couple SIU softball games, and spent a lot of time hanging around the house resting, as the rain kept us indoors the great majority of the weekend.  It is always so relaxing to be at the farm and get away from it all for a day or two.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us all crash your house! Literally! :)

On Friday we headed over to Carbondale to watch SIU play some softball.  It was very iffy weather they would actually play or not as it was raining all day.  But after the took off for about the 20th time (by the way it brought back some very wet and smelly memories watching the SIU girls on tarp duty!) they finally were able to play ball!  However, with a little guidance from Auntie G, Maddux found something much more fun to entertain him!  PUDDLES!! 

Auntie G gave him full permission to "dive in" with disbelief he did just that!!  He loved it!!  He was SO proud of himself and completely soaked by the end of this puddle busting excursion!  But he had a blast and after a trip to 710 Bookstore for new clothes, all was well!

The Salukis won both games!  Go Dawgs!!  However, we were really looking forward to Saturday's games where my Mom would throw out the first pitch for the Strikeout Cancer game.  That never happened due to the rain so we were a quite disappointed that we didn't get to see MawMaw's fastball! 

The rain couldn't stop us from visiting with family though, and Saturday afternoon we were able to go over to Grandma Shirley's and have some very yummy food, including Gma's famous dumplings and banana pudding, and play with cousins. 

Maddux put on his bunny glasses and it was time to party!  He even got cousin Drew in on the bunny action!



The boys hunted eggs indoors, and received way too much candy, toys, etc!!  They are so blessed to have so many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, and GREAT-Grandparents that love them dearly!  This picture of Maddux and Great Grandma Shirley melts my heart!!

After playing way past bedtime we headed back to Grandpa's farm to rest up for Easter morning.  It wasn't quite the restful night I had imagined however, as Aidan woke up about 30 minutes after he fell asleep screaming that his mouth hurt.  I had no idea what this meant, and although he couldn't tell me exactly what hurt, he was obviously in excruciating pain.  Aidan is a child who never shows pain, he once busted his head open and never said a word.  So eventually I put him in the car and made a midnight run to town to pick up Tylenol as we had ran out earlier in the weekend.  I thought I might even end up in the emergency room, but after taking the Tylenol he calmed down, fell asleep on the way home and at about 2 o'clock we were finally all asleep! 

The boys looked very cute on Easter morning all dressed up for church with their Great Grandparents!  I have to admit, I really enjoy dressing them all alike.  Since I have no little girls to "doll up" I use every rare chance I get to play dress up with the boys to my full advantage!  So a photo shoot was definitely in order.  The boys were obviously not nearly as excited about this as I was, but we did manage to get a few good shots!  Thanks Grandpa Gerald for helping us get these sweet pictures!

Aidan was the least interested in the photo shoot as he really just wanted to play with his cousins.  But he did pose on his own for this one!  Forgot to look at the camera though, oh well, take what you can get right?!

This one of all three boys turned out pretty cute!  You can kind of see their three different personalities coming out in this one!

This is the best family pic we could get.  Yes Aidan is darting out of the picture...

And this one might be the best.  My Mom, Great Grandma Shirley and their boys!

But that was as long as we could hold them down, and then it was back to tractor rides, playing with cousins and a little piano playing too!  Love this pic of Payton putting his little fingers to work...

Great Grandma Sue fixed a delicious Easter dinner for us and it was so nice to have over 20 family members gathered together!  The boys were very proud to be eating lunch with their big cousins...



After lunch we rested for a bit and started preparing for the long drive home.  But my sisters and I had to catch the last few innings of SEC softball on TV before heading out!  Love just hanging out with my little sisters and LOVE this picture!

Such a great weekend with family.   With my parents and Geri Ann in Georgia now, these weekends get to be way too far apart and we don't see family in southern IL as often, but when they do happen they are amazing. 

Pre-Easter Festivities!!

We have had a fun weekend filled with Easter activities.  Yesterday morning we visited the Easter Bunny at the mall and then later in the afternoon we went over to our neighbors for a fun evening of egg dying and hunting!  So fun to celebrate the holidays with our boys, and watch their reactions to all the different traditions.

The boys were very excited to go visit the Easter Bunny.  Maddux might have asked 100 times in 1 hour if we were ready to go see the "Easter Rabbit".  He could not wait!  Until he got about 5 feet away...then he was over it!  Ha!  He didn't cry, but he was definitely not feeling comfortable about sitting next to the Rabbit!However, after a little persuading, and a little bribing with a sucker, he sat long enough to get the picture.  But as you will see in the picture below, he wasn't as excited as he was before we left the house that morning. 

Payton on the other hand, NOT having it!  As soon as we began walking toward the Bunny, he locked his legs around my waist and clung to my neck and screamed as loud as his little lungs would allow!  He wanted no where near that Bunny.  I couldn't even get him to let me get him close enough to hold him in the picture.  Last year he was only a few weeks old, and was screaming because he was hungry, but at least we had three boys in the picture, I am ok with screamers, it's all about preserving the memories right?!  But not this year, only two boys with the bunny, Payton was not a fan! Oh well, maybe next year!

Aidan was excited to go see the Bunny yesterday morning, as you can see he was definitely the most cooperative in the picture extravaganza, but what he was most excited about yesterday was his playdate with our next door neighbors for a little egg dying and hunting.  He truly loves to play with Abigail and Hannah and couldn't wait to dye eggs.  The kids had so much fun, and it was a great time with great friends.

Daddy helping the boys with their eggs.

Aidan and Abigail hard at work!

Maddux and Payton had to take a break and start dinner.

Time to hunt those eggs!  The kiddos wait patiently (minus Maddux) for the call upstairs.

Got one!!

Payton was best at eating them and breaking them!

And after every Egg Hunt you should always have cupcakes right?!!  Maddux thinks so!

And Aidan thinks Mommy should STOP taking pics!

That's all for the Easter activities this weekend, a few days of work, school, and lessons and then we are headed to SO IL to spend Easter at the farm.  We are all so excited to see everyone and watch Auntie E's Salukis!  Happy Easter All!!

Catch Up...

Long time no blog!  A month to be exact.  But it's been a little busy and unfortunately the blog is the first to get the cut.  I'll have to continue to work on my blogging habits :).  But here's a little catch-up on the Archibald household...

Since my last blog we took a family trip down south to catch some Georgia softball and spend Spring Break with my parents and sis.  One of my goals for the Spring was to be able to go to the Georgia vs. Alabama softball series in Tuscaloosa.  I had very fond memories of Alabama's stadium and fans when I played there with the Salukis, and really wanted to go back and see some great softball in an SEC series.  So we did, and man were we blown away!  Alabama softball is incredible!  Their crowd is incredible, their facilities are amazing, and the atmosphere can't be beat, other than the WCWS.  Such a great place for college softball and our sport.  If you haven't been and you are a softball fan you must go!! 

Anyway, the series didn't go as we wanted it to for the Dawgs, but it was still good softball none the less and we had a great weekend with my family and enjoyed some beautiful 80+ degree weather, which was much needed in the middle of March.  I was also able to go prom dress shopping with Geri Ann which made the trip even more special for me!  After a great weekend we dropped Bryan off at the Birmingham airport and he headed back to Chicago to work, and the boys and I headed to my parents to enjoy Spring Break Georgia style.  I am so thankful to have a husband who will allow me and the boys to spend so much time with my parents and let the boys get so much quality time with their grandparents!  Really means the world to me.  Thanks Babe!!

As always the boys had a blast down south with my parents!  Aidan and Papa got their daily batting practice in on the field.  Aidan was really proud as this trip he was able to hit the ball past the G in centerfield.  And Papa was pretty proud to as he had to step off Aidan's farthest hit and tell us all it was 160 FT!!  We spent a lot of time playing outside in the wonderful weather.  Mama took the boys on 4Wheeler rides. 

Aidan desperately wanted to drive himself...

And we spent hours just playing outside, going to the park, and hanging out.  So relaxing and much needed quality time with my family.  We also took a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, which Maddux nicknamed "Chunky Cheese sticks" and it will forever be called that in our household from now on!  So cute! 

While in Georgia I took Maddux for a much needed haircut.  They had a really cute kids salon that Maddux loved.  It had all his favorites, Toy Story capes, cars to ride in, and slides to play on at the end!  What else could a 2 year old ask for!!  So the haircut was a huge success and he looked adorable afterward.

Before the haircut... (Yes his hair is in his eyes!)

Check out his cool car he picked to ride in!

And AFTER!! Much better!

So the trip to Georgia was a great success and we made it home safe and sound.  Since then, we've been trying to recoop, battling some colds, but all is well now I think.  We've been enjoying some Spring weather, so nice to be able to get the boys out and let them run!!  Here's a few shots of them in action...

Payton is walking 99%  of the time now.  So he is right there with the big boys, trying to do everything they do.  This particular day he was headed to ball practice! :)

Aidan posing on the skateboard!!  He is the happiest to be out and about.  And I am happiest Mom to have him there, when you keep this kid cooped up, your walls are in danger as is everyone inside them!

Maddux enjoys the outdoors also.  He loves to RIDE things, tractors, cars, four wheelers, etc.  But he also would just as well be inside watching a movie.  He doesn't last as long.  So sweet how they all have their own personalities!

Other than that we've been going through the normal rat race, Bryan working, my lessons at night, and chasing these super active boys.  With Payton walking now it only gets crazier around here!!  But it's so fun and we wouldn't change a thing.  And with that, gotta go get Aidan from preschool!  Bye for now!!